Tacky holiday lights

Holiday Cheer

Richmond, Virginia, is the self-proclaimed "Capital of Tacky Christmas Lights," and every year draws thousands of visitors from around the world to view its holiday displays.

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Capital of Tacky Lights

Mayor Dwight C. Jones embraces the title: "We own that," he told CBS' Bill Geist. "We have actually issued a proclamation to acknowledge the fact that it's the 'Capital of Tacky Lights.'"

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Map to the Lights

Colleen Curran of richmond.com, manages the Tacky Lights Tour - a path followed by thousands of pilgrims each Christmas season. Curran showed a map of participating houses. "To get on the list you need to have 40,000 lights on your house," she told Geist.

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Bill Geist hopped aboard a bus filled with the curious taking the Tacky Lights Tour, who were told, "You won't believe what you are seeing, honestly. You think you've seen bad? You have not."

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Some houses he just rolled by, like this one, which has only 90,000 lights. "And we're still just getting warmed up," said tour guide Kelly.

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At others, tour-takers paused for reflection.

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A view from the Richmond Tacky Lights Tour.

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A view from the Richmond Tacky Lights Tour.

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Ralph Shuler and Ann Hatcher put on a techno show, featuring its own radio broadcast, and 250,000 lights dancing in time to the music.

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You could see a couple of the houses - like Al and Esther Thompson's - from blocks away, and quite possibly from outer space.

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A view from the Richmond Tacky Lights Tour.

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The tour ends at the piece de resistance . . . a work of staggering luminescence

It's all done by Bobby Phifer, with help from his wife and daughter. They've strung more than a million lights on his house - and his mother Rose's house next door - creating a megawatt miracle of the yuletide.

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It takes nine solid weeks to put up, adds $2,400 to their electric bills, and draws thousands of celebrants.

The family's put on this overwhelming display for 37 years and feels an obligation to go on: "You get people come by who don't have no money," Bobby Phifer said. "They come here and you'll see them here every night. Their 'thank you's is enough to want to keep going."

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"Do you think it's wrong to call it tacky?" Geist asked one visitor.

"I think it's PERFECT to call it tacky," he replied. "I wouldn't call it anything else BUT tacky. But it's great. It's tacky, but it's beautiful at the same time."